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AUBURN, Ala. – The end was surreal. As soon as the ball hit the back of the net behind the posts and LSU beat Auburn 22-21 on Saturday, the kicker was gone and rushed into the night. He ran to the center of the field, arms outstretched on both sides as if returning from stunned Jordan-Hare Stadium to return to the expectation of the hero who would surely greet him in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
This is Cole Tracy, the unlikely hero of the latest installment of one of the most vicious rivalries in college football – a rivalry that has been marked by an earthquake, a fire and, more recently, a last minute arrival. A coach was fired and a comeback of 20 points nearly put another coach in the hot seat. Tracy did not belong. He grew up near the beach in Southern California, playing football and football; signed with Division II Assumption College in Worcester, Massachusetts; degree in marketing; and said yes to go to school and play a football season at the SEC, probably in the most deprived state of Massachusetts.
They love Ed Orgeron in Louisiana because Ed Orgeron is Louisiana, but they will love him if he can beat the Alabama teams, starting with Auburn on Saturday.
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His stadium in Assomption originally called Multi-Sport Stadium. Literally. There are no bleachers on one side of the field and attracts about 2,200 people on a good day.
What was he thinking about when he silenced 87,000 screaming fans at Jordan-Hare Stadium, or when he entered the locker room after the match and heard Ed Orgeron's father, Be Bé, shout a primitive victory? You could hear Coach O through the thick metal door and the breeze block – that thick Cajun accent of his, he was lying down badly in Larose's bayou. It was like a smothered Ric Flair as he shouted "Woo!" again and again.
Way to go gaping! … We were stronger, we were harder, bay-bee! … Yeah! … Woo!
When Orgeron finally settled down and talked with reporters, he said that he knew from the beginning that Tracy was ready to take up the challenge. He was so sure that in fact he was planning to put him in third place rather than trying to gain a few extra yards in a run.
"It's the great confidence we have in him," said Orgeron.
To be fair, everything Orgeron does is categorical. That's his dick He's rowdy, noisy, fuel. For most of his first three decades as a coach, it seemed like these qualities meant that it was not what you call "coaching material" in the story the success of LSU.
From the moment he was engaged last season, he was guessed. He won nine games in 2017 and nothing has changed. Even after LSU dominated Miami in their first game this season, Orgeron and the Tigers had their detractors.
And now?
"We feel good about ourselves now," said Orgeron. "We felt good about this football team all the time, whether people talk about us or us, it does not matter, this group does not matter, we just go to work the next day, stay humble and do our best to the Tigers. "
When there were no other questions, Orgeron slapped both hands on the table and left the room.
Enter Tracy, who said he received a text from the Vice President of Assumption earlier in the week with news that some eager LSU fans had given $ 500 to the university. He thought everything was hilarious.
If the transfer kicker was overwhelmed by the moment, he did not show it. He noted that the amounts were the same everywhere, "in Worcester, Jerry World, Tiger Stadium and now in Auburn". When asked if there had been a moment when he realized that there would be a potential kick to win, he replied factually: "I knew Monday."
It did not matter if Auburn was a 10-point favorite. It does not matter if the entire stadium is ready to put the win back to Auburn late in the third quarter after LSU lost 10-0 and Auburn shot 21 unanswered points.
"You know, when you play Auburn, it's going to be a tight match," Tracy said as if he was a seasoned professional, "and the three phases should go well."
That's what they did.
The defense stifled Auburn in times of crisis, harassing the quarterback Jarrett Stidham. The interception of Greedy Williams at the end of the third quarter was a backbreaker.
The offense, and especially the offensive line, was solid everywhere. When Derrick Dillon caught a pass over the middle of the field, no one caught him before reaching the 71-meter mark.
The most impressive was quarterback Joe Burrow, himself irrelevant in this rivalry. He started as a highly qualified rookie, graduated from Ohio State and transferred to LSU during the off-season. The last game of this magnitude he had played was his last match in high school, he said.
If the heat bothered him, Burrow did not show it either. The pressure seemed to slip from him as he remained hooked in the pocket and delivered a big pass after a big pass.
In fact, the only time he got hot under his neck was when he fought at half-time for missed opportunities. The first words of his mouth when he spoke with the reporters were: "I did not play very well".
LSU fans would not be of the same mind after Burrow completed 15 of 34 passes for 249 yards and a touchdown. After suffering during the mediocre quarterfinals in the last ten years, they could finally have a quarter with the confidence to deliver.
When Tracy attempted the 42-yard winning kick, Burrow did not even look. He could not. He put his hands on his head and waited.
He said that he knew it was good when the crowd was silent.
"It shows that we are a very tough team," he said of the victory. "We pressed this one."
It was not pretty, but nothing in this game is ever.
This time it took a kick from a Massachusetts Division II school, a former Ohio State quarterback and a coach no one ever thought of running a program like LSU.
The victory was special. Maybe the beginning of something big. Certainly worthy of a chapter of rivalry that is Auburn-LSU.
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